Entries tagged with “Melissa Elizabeth Lucio”

Innocence

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Nov 15, 2024

Trial Judge Declares Melissa Lucio to be ​“Actually Innocent,” Recommends Texas CCA Overturn Conviction and Death Sentence

Texas death-sen­tenced pris­on­er Melissa Lucio is ​“actu­al­ly inno­cent; she did not kill her [two-year-old] daugh­ter,” explained Judge Arturo Nelson in his October 16th deci­sion, which was made pub­lic on November 14, 2024. Judge Nelson’s Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law now go to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (TCCA), which will make the final deci­sion about whether to over­turn Ms. Lucio’s con­vic­tion and 2008 death sen­tence. This deci­sion marks the lat­est dra­mat­ic devel­op­ment for Ms.

Policy Issues

Innocence

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Jul 03, 2024

The 200th Exoneration Underscores Critical Flaws in the U.S. Criminal Legal System; Other Innocent Prisoners Remain on Death Row

Since the U.S. Supreme Court’s land­mark rul­ing in Furman v. Georgia (1972), 200 death-sen­tenced men and women across 30 states have been exon­er­at­ed. Analysis from the Death Penalty Information Center reveals these indi­vid­u­als have col­lec­tive­ly spent 2,621 years in harsh prison con­di­tions for crimes they did not com­mit. On aver­age, death row exonerees spent 13 years under the sen­tence of death before their exon­er­a­tions, with some indi­vid­u­als spend­ing more than 40 years fight­ing to prove…

Policy Issues

Prosecutorial Accountability

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Women

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Apr 16, 2024

Trial Judge Signs Agreed Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law, Recommending Melissa Lucio’s Conviction and Death Sentence Be Overturned

On April 12, 2024, Judge Arturo Nelson signed an Agreed Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law sub­mit­ted by the pros­e­cu­tion and defense stat­ing that Melissa Lucio (pic­tured) was not giv­en access to favor­able infor­ma­tion in the prosecution’s pos­ses­sion at the time of tri­al. The acknowl­edge­ment of this con­sti­tu­tion­al error result­ed in Judge Nelson’s rec­om­men­da­tion to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (TCCA) that Ms. Lucio’s con­vic­tion and death sen­tence be over­turned. The rul­ing marks the…

Policy Issues

Prosecutorial Accountability

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Women

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Apr 11, 2024

Rare Agreement Between District Attorney and Defense Counsel Acknowledge Prosecutorial Misconduct and Need for New Trial for Melissa Lucio

On April 5, 2024, Cameron County District Attorney Luis Saenz and Innocence Project attor­ney Vanessa Potkin released a joint state­ment regard­ing Melissa Lucio’s case, which has been pend­ing addi­tion­al review for almost two years. On January 11, 2023, the par­ties sub­mit­ted an Agreed Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law stat­ing that the defense was not giv­en access to favor­able infor­ma­tion in the prosecution’s pos­ses­sion at tri­al, an error that they agree should enti­tle Ms. Lucio to a new…

Facts & Research

Recent Legislative Activity

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Mar 13, 2023

LEGISLATION: High Profile Cases in Texas Spur Legislative Activity on the Death Penalty

Prompted by the high-pro­file cas­es of Melissa Lucio, Andre Thomas, and John Ramirez, bills have been intro­duced in the Texas leg­is­la­ture to help pre­vent mis­car­riages of jus­tice. Representative Joe Moody (pic­tured right) has authored two bills, one that would autho­rize Texas pros­e­cu­tors to can­cel sched­uled exe­cu­tions, and anoth­er to facil­i­tate the use of sci­en­tif­ic evi­dence to lessen a person’s sen­tence. Lucio and Thomas both had exe­cu­tion dates, but were grant­ed tem­po­rary reprieves. Lucio…

Policy Issues

Innocence

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Upcoming Executions

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Apr 25, 2022

Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Stays Melissa Lucio’s Execution and Orders Hearing on Her Innocence Claims

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has halt­ed the sched­uled April 27, 2022 exe­cu­tion of Melissa Lucio and direct­ed that a Cameron County tri­al court con­duct a hear­ing to address evi­dence that she may be inno­cent of charges that she mur­dered her two-year-old daugh­ter, Mariah (pic­tured, being held by her…

Policy Issues

Innocence

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International

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Representation

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Upcoming Executions

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Conditions on Death Row

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Mar 02, 2022

Melissa Lucio Files Motions to Vacate Death Warrant, Remove Judge and District Attorney Based on Conflicts of Interest

Lawyers for Texas death-row pris­on­er Melissa Lucio (pic­tured) have moved to vacate her April 27, 2022 exe­cu­tion date and remove the judge and dis­trict attor­ney in her case because of con­flicts of inter­est stem­ming from their employ­ment of key mem­bers of Lucio’s orig­i­nal defense…

Policy Issues

Innocence

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Representation

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Women

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Oct 25, 2021

U.S. Supreme Court Declines to Review Federal Appeals Court Ruling Overturning Grant of a New Trial for Texas Woman on Death Row for What May Have Been the Accidental Death of Her Child

The U.S. Supreme Court on October 18, 2021 denied review in the case of Texas death-row pris­on­er Melissa Elizabeth Lucio (pic­tured). Lucio was con­vict­ed and sen­tenced to death on charges that she mur­dered her two-year-old daugh­ter, Mariah. Lucio has long main­tained that Mariah died from an accidental…

Policy Issues

Innocence

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Women

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Aug 17, 2021

Anti-Violence Advocates, Prosecutors, and Innocence Groups File Supreme Court Briefs in Support of Battered Woman on Texas Death Row

A coali­tion of advo­cates for vic­tims of domes­tic and gen­der-based vio­lence, for­mer pros­e­cu­tors, legal schol­ars, and inno­cence orga­ni­za­tions have filed briefs in the U.S. Supreme Court in sup­port of a Texas woman who was sen­tenced to death for what foren­sic evi­dence sug­gests may have been an acci­den­tal fall that killed her two-year-old…

Policy Issues

Arbitrariness

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Women

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Feb 17, 2021

Divided Federal Appeals Court Reinstates Death Sentence for Texas Mother of Child Who May Have Died in Accidental Fall

Continuing an unpar­al­leled pat­tern of rul­ings adverse to Texas death-row pris­on­ers, a divid­ed U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has rein­stat­ed the con­vic­tion and death sen­tence of a moth­er con­vict­ed of killing her two-year-old daugh­ter in what, the defense has argued, was actu­al­ly an accidental…

Policy Issues

Innocence

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Women

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Jul 31, 2019

Federal Appeals Court Overturns Mother’s Conviction in Texas Child Murder Case That May Have Been an Accidental Death

Citing tri­al court inter­fer­ence in her right to present a defense, a fed­er­al appeals court has over­turned the con­vic­tion of a Texas moth­er who was sen­tenced to death on charges that she had mur­dered her two-year-old daugh­ter. In an unpub­lished, unsigned opin­ion issued on July 29, 2019, a unan­i­mous three-judge pan­el of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit said that tri­al court rul­ings that blocked Melissa Elizabeth Lucio (pic­tured) from call­ing an expert wit­ness to…